Newspaper Prayers: Wednesday, August 9th

Trump Threatens ‘Fire and Fury’ Against North Korea if It Endangers U.S.

President Trump threatened on Tuesday to unleash “fire and fury” against North Korea if it endangered the United States, as tensions with the isolated and impoverished nuclear-armed state escalated into perhaps the most serious foreign policy challenge yet of his administration.

In chilling language that evoked the horror of a nuclear exchange, Mr. Trump sought to deter North Korea from any actions that would put Americans at risk. But it was not clear what specifically would cross his line. Administration officials have said that a pre-emptive military strike, while a last resort, is among the options they have made available to the president.

“North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States,” Mr. Trump told reporters at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J., where he is spending much of the month on a working vacation. “They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.”

Referring to North Korea’s volatile leader, Kim Jong-un, Mr. Trump said, “He has been very threatening beyond a normal state, and as I said, they will be met with fire and fury, and frankly power the likes of which this world has never seen before.”

Undaunted, North Korea warned several hours later that it was considering a strike that would create “an enveloping fire” around Guam, the western Pacific island where the United States operates a critical Air Force base. In recent months, American strategic bombers from Guam’s Andersen Air Force Base have flown over the Korean Peninsula in a show of force.

Readings from the Sermon on the Mount for Wednesday, August 9, 2017

Matthew 6.10 – “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Newspaper headlines are filled with information about the governments of this world. On a daily basis, they contain stories of oppressors and the oppressed. God has an alternative kingdom. What is his kingdom all about? I recommend that we read the first four books of the New Testament (the Gospels), carefully looking at how Jesus lived and what he taught. This is the best picture we have of what God’s kingdom is all about.

The more we know about God’s kingdom, the more we will pray for it to come in its fullness.

Prayers for Wednesday, August 9, 2017

Dear God, may your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven in my life and in the world today.